There is a postscript to this story of my visit to Siena and one that in 2006 I couldn’t possibly have foreseen.
Five years later I moved to the fishing port of Grimsby and there by the docks is an Italianate water tower built in 1852 to provide power to work the giant lock gates. The tower was designed by a man called James William Wild who had himself visited Siena and had so admired the place that he based his design for the Grimsby Dock Tower on the Torre del Mangia tower on the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena. Fate sometimes place strange tricks!
Have Bag, Will Travel 
I’m surprised I remember this . . . probably because of the statement that no one visits Grimsby.
Which, of course, means that if I ever visit England, Grimsby will have to be one of the stops.
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That will boost the visitor numbers!
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Andrew, this is all fascinating I love the tower. The only problem is you haven’t explained in any way how the tower works so I wondering if you could duck down after your breakfast or your Christmas lunch and get inside and take a few shots the workings.Like only if you’ve got a bit of spare time anyway have a good Christmas.
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The tower should be a tourist attraction but no one is allowed to visit now because it is within a dock security zone. Until a few years ago it was possible to drive to it and look at it but only once a year go inside,
Wiki tells me that it was a hydraulic accumulator tower.
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Nice tower sadly cannot be visited, i wonder what they keep in there!
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Probably just maintenance equipment for the docks.
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Fascinating! You learn something everyday on WP. I have been to Legoland but it was 20 odd years ago. I have never been to Grimsby.
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When I worked in Windsor the company had a cleaning contract at Legoland so I could go as often as I wanted.
I don’t know anyone who has visited Grimsby.
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I only went to Legoland once with my god-daughter. TBH I don’t know anyone who’s visited Grimsby either. My closest would be an audit I did in Bridlington.
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At least 50 miles north.
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I know but it’s the closest I’ve been
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I’ve visited Grimsby. A 1-1 draw somewhere in the early 80s, and a trip out with my Dad once when I was bored in the summer holidays and he had a business meeting with Ross Fish (1971). I had to keep finding doorways to get out of the rain.
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Grimsby Town football ground is famous for not being in Grimsby, it is in Cleethorpes.
Ross fish is now Young’s.
There is a fishing museum in Grimsby with a trawler nearby – The Ross Tiger.
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Yes I remember. Blundell Park, close to the sea. It was wet that day too…
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I’ve never been to Grimsby, but a mobile wet fish van used to come round where I lived in Scunthorpe from Grimsby.
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The Grimsby fish man goes everywhere.
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The hospitality trade in Grimsby will have to gird its loins to deal with the rush of visitors following this post. I knew someone who came from Grimsby but that is the nearest that I have got to it.
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I will inform the appropriate people.
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Oh my goodness, I do like finding out stuff like this. Thank you!
Have a peaceful, healthy, happy Christmas.
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Thanks Yvonne.
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I am always drawn to Grimsby as you present it here in your blog, and I feel like it’s a place I particularly want to visit whenever I make it to your part of the world. Isn’t that funny what you have done for the tourism department in Grimsby.
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That will be 201 visitors then. I look forward to seeing you.
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